UPDATE October 14: MA – Cry Of Silence directed by Myanmar’s The Maw Naing, picked up one of the New Currents Awards at this year’s Busan International Film Festival, while Tale Of The Land [PICTURED ABOVE], by Indonesia’s Loeloe Hendra Komara, won the FIPRESCI Award. Further details of both films are below.
UPDATE August 6: Antoinette Jadaone’s Sunshine from the Philippines and Tumpal Tampubolon’s Crocodile Tears from Indonesia received their world premieres in the Centrepiece section of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
UPDATE July 23: Stranger Eyes, directed by Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua, premiered in competition at Venice film festival. The film is produced by Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Volos Films (Taiwan), Films de Force Majeure (France) and US-based Cinema Inutile. Phantosmia, the latest film from Philippines auteur Lav Diaz, premiered in Venice Out of Competition.
UPDATE July 22: Vietnamese filmmaker Duong Dieu Linh’s Don’t Cry Butterfly won the grand prize and the award for most innovative feature in Critics’ Week at this year’s Venice film festival. The film, about a housewife who resorts to casting a spell to win back her cheating husband, is produced by Vietnam’s Kalei Films, Singapore’s Momo Film Co, Fusee in the Philippines and Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media.
UPDATE July 17: Regretfully At Dawn, directed by Thailand’s Sivaroj Kongsakul, was selected for the New Directors competition at San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is produced by Pimpaka Towira of Thailand’s Extra Virgin, with Lai Weijie of Singapore’s E&W Films as co-producer. Thailand’s Diversion is on board as international sales agent.
UPDATE JULY 9: Nelicia Low has won Best Director in the Crystal Globe competition at Karlovy Vary Film Festival for Pierce, produced by Singapore’s Potocol, Taiwan’s Flash Forward Entertainment and Poland’s Harine Films.
- The list below highlights noteworthy upcoming Southeast Asian film projects, ranging from projects in the early stages of development to those in post-production, completed and premiering at festivals. Nationality of the director is in brackets after their names, but nationality of the projects is harder to determine as most are multi-territory co-productions.
9 TEMPLES TO HEAVEN
Dir: Sompot Chidgasornpongse (Thailand)
Prods: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Kissada Kamyoung
Co-prod: Lai Weijie
Prod cos: Kick the Machine (Thailand), E&W Films (Singapore)
Synopsis: A family of nine takes their grandmother on a merit-making trip to nine temples in one day, hoping to prolong her life. But the trip takes an unexpected turn.
Status: Development, shooting Q1 2025
AMOEBA
Dir: Siyou Tan (Singapore)
Prods: Fran Borgia, Antoine Simkine, Denis Vaslin, Luisa Romeo
Prod cos: Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Les Films D’Antoine (France), Volya Films (Netherlands), Mariari Films (Spain)
Synopsis: An exploration of Singapore’s societal and cultural expectations through the lens of a misfit in an all-girls school, as she joins a girl gang and tries to pass the all-important final year examinations.
Status: Pre-Production, shooting July/Aug 2024
THIS CITY IS A BATTLEFIELD
Dir: Mouly Surya (Indonesia)
Prods: Rama Adi, Anthony Chen, Tan Si En
Prod cos: Cinesurya (Indonesia), Giraffe Pictures (Singapore), Epicmedia Productions (Philippines)
Synopsis: Adapted from Mochtar Lubis’ novel A Road With No End about a war hero and a school teacher in Jakarta after the country has claimed independence from the Dutch and Japanese.
Status: Post-production
CROCODILE TEARS
Dir: Tumpal Tampubolon (Indonesia)
Prods: Mandy Marahimin, Anthony Chen
Prod cos: Tanakhir Films (Indonesia), Acrobates Films (France), Giraffe Pictures (Singapore)
Int’l sales: Cercamon
Synopsis: Johan and his mother live hidden from the outside world in a crocodile park. When Johan falls in love with Arumi, and proposes she comes to live with them, his mother resents the intrusion and starts to hatch other plans.
Status: Completed, premiered in Centrepiece, Toronto International Film Festival
DIAMONDS IN THE SAND
Dir: Janus Victoria (Philippines)
Prods: Lorna Tee, Dan Villegas, Masumi Soga
Prod cos: Paperheart (Malaysia), Project 8 Projects (Philippines), Spanic Films (Japan)
Exec prods: Nathan Studios, CMB Film Services (Philippines), IS Field, Shozo Ichiyama (Japan)
Synopsis: A divorced and demoted salaryman (Lily Franky) living in Tokyo is afraid of ‘kodokushi’, a phenomenon where elderly people die alone and are not discovered for months after their death. He abandons it all and heads to Manila, because he’s been led to believe that nobody is ever lonely in The Philippines.
Status: Post-production [HAF 2024 Works-in-Progress]
DON’T CRY, BUTTERFLY
Dir: Duong Dieu Linh (Vietnam)
Prods: Tan Si En, Wilfredo C. Manalang, Nguyen Mai Ka
Prod cos: Kalei Films (Vietnam), Momo Film Co (Singapore), Fusee (Philippines), KawanKawan Media (Indonesia), Pupa Films (Philippines)
Synopsis: A middle-aged housewife discovers her husband’s affair and decides to cast a spell, hoping she can voodoo him back into love.
Status: Completed, won two awards in Venice Critics’ Week
THE DROUGHT
Dir: Nelson Yeo (Singapore)
Prods: Tan Si En, Sophia Sim
Prod cos: Momo Film Co (Singapore)
Synopsis: In the time of an uninhabitable drought, Kai struggles with his retracting genital syndrome and his wife, Ling demeans him with this impotency. Their widowed neighbour, Daming, grieves over the death of the last of his three sons, while his mother devises a secret plan for another grandson.
Status: Development
FILIPIÑANA
Dir: Rafael Manuel (Philippines)
Prods: Jeremy Chua, Alex Polunin, Bradley Liew
Prod cos: Potocol (Singapore), Epicmedia Productions (Philipines), Film4 (UK)
Int’l sales: Magnify
Synopsis: Set in the self-contained sphere of an elite golf course and country club in Manila, Filipiñana follows tee-girl Isabel as she learns the rules and tests the boundaries of her new job.
Status: Production
THE FOX KING
Dir: Woo Ming Jin (Malaysia)
Prods: Woo Ming Jin, Edmund Yeo, Chua Jin Xuan, Yulia Evina Bhara
Prod cos: Sunstrong Entertainment (Malaysia), Greenlight Pictures (Malaysia), Da Huang Pictures (Malaysia), KawanKawan Media (Indonesia)
Cast: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Idan Aedan, Amerul Affendi, Chew Kin Wah, Hadi Putra
Synopsis: In a coastal Malaysian town in the early 2000s, two inseparable fraternal twins share a telepathic bond. They are forced to fend for themselves when their father abandons them after remarrying a younger bride, while the arrival of a new teacher tests their brotherly bond.
Status: Post-production
HOLD MY GAZE
Dir: Carlo Catu (Philippines)
Prods: Bradley Liew, Ping-Yu Chiu, Stefano Centini, Huang Junxiang
Prod cos: Epicmedia Productions Inc, Volos Films Taiwan
Synopsis: In Taipei City, a car accident enables two Filipino men to move in with a wealthy Taiwanese dancer; beginning a cycle of revenge, jealousy and murder.
Status: Development, Financing
INDERA
Dir: Woo Ming Jin (Malaysia)
Prods: Woo Ming Jin, Aron Koh
Prod cos: Lomo Pictures (Malaysia), Greenlight Pictures (Malaysia)
Int’l sales: Parallax
Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of the violent Memali Incident in 1985, this psychological thriller is about a visiting handyman and his young daughter who experience mysterious visions in a remote village amid the fatal police raid against fundamentalists.
Status: Completed, premiered at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN)
KAALI: DEPTH OF DARKNESS
Dir: Gogularaajan Rajendran (Malaysia)
Prods: Kumanavannan Rajendran, Lai Weijie
Co-prods: Elizabeth Wijaya
Prod cos: Fourth Frame Studios (Malaysia), E&W Films (Singapore)
Synopsis: 1966, a plantation bordering a lush Malayan forest. Kali, once claimed and saved by the forest as a child, grows up to be a young wife and plantation worker. Initially struggling with her mother-in-law’s impatience for an heir, she finally feels accepted when she gets pregnant. Yet, things take a dark turn when Kali decides to ignore the forest’s plea for help in return.
Status: Development
KAWALAN
Dir: Lav Diaz (Philippines)
Prod: Hazel Orencio
Prod co: Sine Olivia Pilipinas
Synopsis: The old venerable mayor of the remote town of Kawalan learns that the invading Japanese will set up a garrison. He organises willing members in his community to set up a hidden settlement in the middle of the forest, where they can live unaffected by the horrors of the war.
Status: Post-production [HAF 2024 Works-in-Progress]
LEVITATING [working title]
Dir: Wregas Bhanuteja (Indonesia)
Prods: Wregas Bhanuteja, Tan Si En, Siera Tamihardja, Iman Usman
Prod cos: Rekata Studio, Momo Film Co
Synopsis: In a small suburban area where pleasure comes from being possessed by spiritual beings, 20-year-old Bayu aspires to be a shaman and later emerges as a critical figure to solve the area’s crisis in the face of an impending eviction.
Status: Pre-production, shooting Q3 2024
MA – CRY OF SILENCE
Dir: The Maw Naing (Myanmar)
Prods: The Maw Naing, Youngjeong Oh, Jeremy Chua, Charlotte Guenin, Linda Bolstad Strønen, Marie Fuglestein Lægreid, Ingrid Lill Høgtun
Prod cos: One Point Zero (Myanmar), Plus Point One (Korea), Potocol (Singapore), Massala Productions (France), DUOfilm (Norway)
Int’l sales: Alpha Violet
Synopsis: A young Burmese woman, Mi-Thet, moves to the big city to work in a garment factory to support her family. She is forced to confront traumas in her past and in the desperate city life around her during a labor strike.
Status: Completed, won New Currents award at Busan International Film Festival
MOLDER
Dir: Kenneth Dagatan (Philippines)
Prods: Bradley Liew, Stefano Centini, Huang Junxiang
Prod cos: Epicmedia Productions (Philippines), Volos Films Italia (Italy), Huang Junxiang (Singapore)
Synopsis: A body-horror supernatural thriller set in a sleepy Italian town where an elderly Filipino immigrant struggling with signs of early onset dementia, grapples with the sudden disappearance of his wife and the mysterious young man who claims to have placed a curse upon them.
Status: Development, Financing
MOONGLOW
Dir: Isabel Sandoval (US-Philippines)
Cast: Arjo Atayde
Prods: Alemberg Ang, Tan Si En, Takahiro Yamashita, Ria Atayde
Prod cos: Daluyong Studios (Philippines), Momo Film Co (Singapore), Yaman Films (Japan) Nathan Studios (Philippines)
Synopsis: In 1970s Manila, a jaded female police detective, who unbeknownst to her colleagues is the mastermind behind a successful heist, is paired up with an obsessively truth-seeking detective partner to crack the very crime that she orchestrated.
Status: Post-production
MONGREL
Dir: Chiang Wei Liang (Singapore)
Prods: Lai Weijie, Lynn Chen, Chu Yun-ting
Co-prods: Marie Dubas, Elizabeth Wijaya
Prod cos: E&W Films (Singapore), Le Petit Jardin (Taiwan), Deuxième Ligne Films (France)
Int’l sales: Alpha Violet
Synopsis: Oom has no papers or formal training but is good at caring for the elderly and disabled. When his situation as a caregiver in the mountains becomes too much for him, he has to choose between survival or dignity.
Status: Completed, won a Camera d’Or Special Mention in Cannes Directors Fortnight
MORTE CUCINA
Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Thailand)
DoP: Christopher Doyle
Prods: Soros Sukhum, Conor Zorn, Manuel Chiche, Alexandra Hoesdorff, Freddie Yeo Soo Teck, Darryl Yeo, Stefano Centini
Prod cos: 185 Films, Little River Entertainment, Joker Films, Deal Productions, Gorylah, Volos Films
Synopsis: A talented young female chef has a chance encounter with a man who sexually abused her when she was a teen. Using her talents in the kitchen, she sets her plan of revenge in motion.
Int’l sales: Goodfellas, CAA
Status: Pre-production
MY NEIGHBOR THE GANGSTER
Dir: Mario Cornejo (Philippines)
Prod: Monster Jimenez
Prod co: This Side Up
Synopsis: In 1981, a young boy’s life is changed when the Philippines’ most notorious gangster moves in next door to his peaceful seaside residence.
Status: Pre-production, shooting in October 2024
OTHER PEOPLE’S DREAMS
Dir: Daniel Hui (Singapore)
Prods: Tan Si En, Sophia Sim
Prod cos: Momo Film Co (Singapore), 13 Little Pictures (Singapore)
Synopsis: Two runaway souls escaping a dark past meet in the chaos of Singapore. They find a way to survive by stealing, unseen from the public, melding themselves with the rhythms of the dreaming city.
Status: Development
PHANTOSMIA
Dir: Lav Diaz (Philippines)
Cast: Ronnie Lazaro, Hazel Orencio, Janine Gutierrez
Synopsis: Hilarion Zabala’s mysterious olfactory problem has recurred; a psychiatrist suspects it to be a lingering case of phantosmia, a phantom smell, and possibly caused by trauma, a deep psychological fracture. One recommended radical process to cure the ailment was that Hilarion must go back and deal with the darkest currents of his past life in the military service. Reassigned in the very remote Pulo Penal Colony, he must also confront the horrific realities of his present situation.
Status: Completed, premiered at Venice film festival Out Of Competition
PIERCE
Dir: Nelicia Low (Singapore)
Prods: Sam Chua, Jeremy Chua, Patrick Mao Huang, Izabela Igel, John M. Lo
Prod cos: Potocol (Singapore), Flash Forward Entertainment (Taiwan), Harine Films (Poland)
Int’l sales: Magnify
Synopsis: When his beloved but dangerous older brother is released from prison, high school fencer Zi-Jie believes he is innocent and goes behind their mother’s back to help him, only to realise the brother he has idealised might only be a fantasy.
Status: Completed, won Best Director in the Crystal Globe Competition of Karlovy Vary Film Festival
REGRETFULLY AT DAWN
Dir: Sivaroj Kongsakul (Thailand)
Prods: Pimpaka Towira, Lai Weijie (co-producer)
Prod cos: Extra Virgin, E&W Films (co-production)
Int’l sales: Diversion
Synopsis: This small-town drama centres on an old man, a young girl and a soldier who begin to discover the beauty of their life before it comes to an end.
Status: Completed, selected for San Sebastian Film Festival New Directors competition
THE SEA IS CALM TONIGHT
Dir: Lê Bảo (Vietnam)
Prods: Lai Weijie
Co-prods: Marie Dubas, Sheron Dayoc, Elizabeth Wijaya
Prod cos: E&W Films (Singapore), Deuxième Ligne Films (France), Southern Lantern Studios (Philippines)
Synopsis: At sea, Vietnamese boat people of 40 years past have a miraculous meeting with Rohingya refugees of the present in their extraordinary parallel journeys to find peace.
Status: Development
SKIN COAT
Dir: Tan Wei Keong (Singapore)
Prods: Anthony Chen, Teoh Yi Peng
Prod co: Giraffe Pictures (Singapore)
Synopsis: Singapore animator Tan Wei Keong’s debut feature is an animated feature. A son returns to his village to see his aging parents, and his male lover has to put on a woman’s skin coat to accompany him back home.
Status: Development
SKIN OF YOUTH
Dir: Ash Mayfair (Vietnam)
Prods: Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, Fran Borgia, Kayo Yoshida
Prod cos: An Nam Productions (Vietnam), Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Bitter Ends (Japan), Mayfair Pictures
Synopsis: In 1990s Saigon, San wants to have enough money for a sex-change operation that will fulfil her dream of living in a woman’s body. San’s lover, Nam, must work as an underground dog-cage fighter to support this dream.
Status: Post-Production, aiming for completion mid-2024
SOME NIGHTS I FEEL LIKE WALKING
Dir: Petersen Vargas (Philippines)
Prods: Alemberg Ang, Jade Francis Castro, Anthony Chen, Tan Si En
Prod cos: Daluyong Studios, Ten17p Film, (Philippines), Giraffe Pictures (Singapore), Dolce Vita Films (France)
Int’l sales: Parallax
Synopsis: A rich teenage runaway, Zion, is looking for a place to belong and falls in with a group of hustlers. When the youngest dies of an overdose, he joins a mission to fulfil the dead boy’s final wish: to go home.
Status: Post-production
SPIRIT WORLD
Dir: Eric Khoo (Singapore)
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Masaaki Sakai, Yutaka Takenouchi, Jun Fukubi
Prod cos: m.i.movies, Zhao Wei Films, Fourier Films, Knockonwood, Wild Orange Artists
Int’l sales: Goodfellas
Synopsis: Legendary singer Claire flies to Japan for a final sold-out concert. When the show ends, so does Claire’s life on earth. But an unexpected new life in the spirit world – where she will be guided by Yuzo, one of her biggest fans – awaits.
Status: Completed, premiered as closing film at Busan International Film Festival
STRANGER EYES
Dir: Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore)
Prods: Fran Borgia, Stefano Centini, Jean-Laurent Csinidis, Alex C. Lo
Prod cos: Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Volos Films (Taiwan), Films de Force Majeure (France), Cinema Inutile (US)
Int’l sales: Playtime
Synopsis: After the unexplained disappearance of their baby daughter, a young couple receives strange videos and realises someone has been filming their daily life, even in their most intimate moments. The police set up surveillance to arrest the voyeur they suspect of the kidnapping. But the family starts to crumble as secrets emerge under the scrutiny of eyes watching them from all sides.
Status: Completed, premiered in competition at Venice film festival
SUNSHINE
Dir: Antoinette Jadaone (Philippines)
Cast: Maris Racal
Prods: Bianca Balbuena, Dan Villegas
Prod cos: Anima, Project 8 Projects
Synopsis: A young gymnast discovers she is pregnant on the week of the national team tryouts. On her way to a seller of illegal abortion drugs, she meets a mysterious girl who eerily talks and thinks like her.
Status: Completed, premiered in Centrepiece, Toronto International Film Festival
TALE OF THE LAND
Dir: Loeloe Hendra (Indonesia)
Prod: Yulia Evina Bhara, Amerta Kusuma
Prod co: KawanKawan Media (Indonesia)
Co-prod: Armi Rae Cacanindin
Co-prod co: Cinematografica (Philipines)
Synopsis: An indigenous Dayak girl in Borneo, traumatised by her parents’ death, is cursed to not touch land and lives on the water with her grandfather. After an unexpected loss, she chooses to stand on her own.
Status: Completed, won the FIPRESCI Award in New Currents at Busan International Film Festival
THE THONGLOR KIDS
Dir: Aditya Assarat (Thailand)
Prods: Fran Borgia, Aditya Assarat, Tanwarat Sombatwattana
Prod cos: Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Pop Pictures (Thailand)
Synopsis: A former professor living in a small town, who resigned his position at the university a few years ago over his support for the student protesters, has his life turned upsidedown when his best friend comes to visit and he finds himself drawn back in to the teenage hijinks that unfolds when the two of them are together.
Status: Pre-production, shooting in mid 2024
TROPICAL RAIN, DEATH-SCENTED KISS
Dir: Charlotte Hong Bee Her (Singapore-US)
Prods: Tan Si En, Giuliana Foulkes
Prod cos: Momo Film Co (Singapore), Total Blur Productions (US), Dayulong Studios (Philippines)
Synopsis: In a vision of Singapore slowly falling into a wilderness populated by spirits, the ghost of a girl’s best friend follows her home [hybrid animation].
Status: Post-production
A USEFUL GHOST
Dir: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Thailand)
Prods: Cattleya Paosrijaroen, Soro Sukhum, Tan Si En
Prod cos: 185 Films (Thailand), Momo Film Co (Singapore)
Synopsis: Following the death of his wife, due to a respiratory disease caused by air pollution, a widower worries that the same fate will befall his son. His wife then returns as a ghost haunting the house vacuum cleaner to try and suck up the dust hurting her child.
Status: Production
VIET AND NAM
Dir: Truong Minh Quy (Vietnam)
Prods: Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Lai Weijie, Marie Dubas, Lorna Tee, Joost De Vries, Stefano Centini, Christian Jilka, Nguyễn Thị Xuân Trang
Prod cos: Epicmedia Productions Inc (Philippines), E&W Films (Singapore), Deuxième Ligne Films (France), An Original Picture (Netherlands), Volos Films Italia (Italy), Scarlet Visions (Germany), Lagi Limited (Vietnam)
Int’l sales: Pyramide International
Synopsis: Before leaving Vietnam in a container alongside future migrants, Nam, a young miner, seeks to find the remains of his father, a soldier killed during the civil war. But Nam’s lover, Việt, wishes they could stay forever in the depths of the coal mine.
Status: Completed, premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard 2024
WE ARE ALL STRANGERS
Dir: Anthony Chen (Singapore)
Prods: Anthony Chen, Teoh Yi Peng, Huang Wenhong
Prod cos: Giraffe Pictures (Singapore)
Synopsis: After Ilo Ilo and Wet Season, the third and final film of Anthony Chen’s ‘Growing Up’ trilogy will once again reunite frequent collaborators Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler as they play strangers made to become family.
Status: Development, shooting end of 2024